Buyer claiming S.N.A.D - complex case

[seaworthee1]

To cut a long story short:

1) Sent a camera with accessories to a buyer.

2) Buyer claims that accessories were sent in box, but not the camera body. Claims that the box was not tampered with. 

3) Buyer opens a dispute in Paypal almost immediately after receiving said item, escalates it to a claim after I said I packed everything in the box. Did not give me a chance to seriously investigate the matter or come up with some sort of amicable solution.

4) I have provided documentary evidence of tracking, postage etc, photos - but obviously this proof is useless in a SNAD case.

5) I've also rang Australia Post and they confirmed it was delivered, and that it wasn't opened for routine inspection or anything like that. There is now an investigation underway as to the whereabouts of this item. 

I suspect Australia Post will rule against my claim because as far as they are concerned, the item was delivered (albeit apparently missing the auction item). I'm also fairly likely to lose in the dispute with PayPal, as buyers are wholly protected in cases of items significantly not as described provided they return the item.

Is there any recourse of action for myself? The buyer is in the process of filing a police report and signing a stat dec, all because I sent an item I knew to be 100% accurate and true to the listing. I have been now advised to file a police report and stat dec myself, but this **bleep**-for-tat business doesn't seem like it will produce a result in the end. It will be a case of his stat dec versus my stat dec, and so on. 

It might also be unwise of me to file a police report if I am not sure the buyer has kept the item and is claiming that he did not receive it in full. Australia Post are investigating things on their end but it would appear to take a lot more time than it takes to resolve an average PayPal dispute.

Any advice here would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou.

[i-love-my-sheep]

I think given the camera sold for over $2,000 they might be interested. Might be different if it was a $10 pair of earrings.

[seaworthee1]

Well the buyer has sent me back a package via Express Post and it will be here tomorrow, after which time I'm required to notify PayPal that the package has arrived. The buyer will then be refunded, but I'm not sure whether it will be forcibly removed from my bank account or whether I will have to do it voluntarily. As I see it, there is no point denying the refund at this stage of the game.

I have made a complaint to PayPal regarding the decision of the claim being made in the buyer's favour, and will await their response before taking it to the FOS if necessary.

Thanks again all, you've been wonderful.

[cq_tech]

After running the buyer's user ID through Toolhaus, it eventuates that he has left 42 negs and 8 neutrals, and of those, 22 of them relate to items not received. In each case he was refunded yet still elected to leave negative feedback, which is not something I would normally do if the seller was very apologetic and refunded my money immediately.

Furthermore, in all the time I've been on eBay, I have only had to claim for INR on 3 occasions. There have been more disputes than that lodged but the items eventually turned up and the cases were closed. I also left positive feedback in every instance, unlike this buyer. Bloody huge difference isn't it? My 3 x INRs compared with the buyer's 22 in a much shorter period.

He is either the unluckiest buyer who has ever signed up with eBay, or he's a dodgy lying mongrel ba$tard who needs to be investigated by the police and locked up if it's found that he's been defrauding eBay sellers, as I very strongly suspect. It's not Paypal he's stealing from either, it's the poor sellers whose items he's lied about not receiving.

[thecatspjs]

Did you insure the package ? 

and was the package sent with signature on delivery ? 

[character_parties_aus]

paypal / eBay  are the agent(s) facilitating his dishonesty by not having policies in place to protect sellers in situations like this.  Each case like this is individual and needs to be judged on the merit of the seller and buyer to make it fair. It's clear beyond reasonable doubt in this case that the buyer is a thief and the seller is not given the buyers feedback given out and consistent playing of the system. End of story. this needs to be brought to ebay and paypals attention.

If it was not for paypal and eBay being complicit in their policy then the fraud would not be able to occur as such they must bear responsibility to some degree.

PJ's - I fail to see how signature on delivery would make any difference?

Cheers

[character_parties_aus]

Oh and happy christmas.

[lizzy6107]

thank you.!

[seaworthee1]

Yes, insurance and signature on delivery were purchased, but as mentioned, does not really matter in a case of item not as described.

The insurance however does allow me to ask Australia Post to conduct an investigation, so I will be interested in the outcome of that.

[thecatspjs]

---

@seaworthee1 wrote:

Yes, insurance and signature on delivery were purchased, but as mentioned, does not really matter in a case of item not as described.

The insurance however does allow me to ask Australia Post to conduct an investigation, so I will be interested in the outcome of that.

---

Of course it matters if you sent the goods. It also matters to demonstrate that you sent the goods in an appropriate way for the value of goods being sent.

You can lodge a claim on the extra cover insurance to recover the funds - if the claim is substantial I think you will find that any AP investigation is ramped up.

Based on your posts, either an AP staff member or contractor has stolen the camera or the buyer is lodging a fraudulent claim. 

I would have reported the matter to the police the moment the buyer contacted me it is afterall a crime that has occurred based on your OP. 

I would not have accused the buyer of anything, however I would have been clear that I would be pursuing the matter through the police and Australia Post as I had sent the goods exactly as described.

I think you would find that Paypl may have taken any response you made to Paypal re the  claim of not described, might have been taken a little more seriously, if you yourself had reported the matter to the police.

.  

[seaworthee1]

Yes, I didn't mean to say that it was totally useless. But in terms of being covered by the PayPal Selling Policy, I would easily be able to refute an item not received case with postage information and get a refund, which I obviously can't do in a SNAD case.

As mentioned, the claim with Australia Post has been lodged. It was lodged on the Monday just gone. I guess it's easy to say I should have filed a police report the minute the buyer said he hadn't received the camera, but you do tend to believe the stories these people concoct, at least initially. It's important to remember that I had (and still don't) have concrete evidence on the whereabouts of the camera.

Now that I've had a few days to equip myself with some knowledge on the matter, it's obvious I've been the victim of fraud or theft. I've also had the assistance of some very helpful people on this forum who have made suggestions that I never would have thought of myself.

FWIW, I have made a report to NSW Police and the ACCC Scamwatch website. I will be ringing PayPal tomorrow to follow up on my escalation complaint. I've also kept the buyer updated on my actions, but he is not budging one little bit, as you might expect.

Do you think it's wise to update Ebay on the buying patterns of this user?